BATMAN: VENOM 3.5
by MrManiac
Summary: Set in the "VENOM" storyline. A drug-addicted Batman and the untold story of his ordeal in the cave. Could he save himself?


DISCLAIMERS: DC OWNS BATMAN AND ALL RELATED CHARACTERS. THIS STORY IS SET   
IN THE "VENOM" STORYLINE (LOTDK 15-20) BY DENNY O´NEIL, TREVOR VON EEDEN,   
RUSSEL BRAUN AND JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA LOPEZ.   
HOPE YOU ENJOY IT.   
PLEASE EXCUSE GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY AND SPELLING MISTAKES.   
ENGLISH IS NOT MY PRIMARY LANGUAGE =)   
  
  
  
BATMAN: VENOM 3.5   
  
  
Alfred was waiting when Bruce came into the manor. Batman was nervous, angry.   
He moved almost in pain, took off his mask and looked at the butler with sad eyes.   
  
"Are you certain about this, Master Bruce"   
  
Batman. Batman. Batman.   
And the voice is weak, unsure, insane.   
  
"Don´t argue, dammit. Do as I say"   
  
"Let me be certain I understand your instructions. I am not to open either of   
the entrances to the cave for any reason for at least a month.   
You have enough food and water down there?"   
  
Bruce moved the clock that hid the entrance to the bat-cave and got in slowly.   
  
"I told you... more than enough"   
  
"What about the other exits?"   
  
"I´ve bricked them up."   
  
Alfred looked at Bruce going down into the cave. He tried to reason with him   
for the last time.   
  
"Isn´t there another way? Someone who could be of assistance...A Physician perhaps?"   
  
Bruce stopped and looked over his shoulder. No words were needed.   
  
"I suppose not. You are... who you are..."   
  
The clock was back in it´s place and the entrance to the cave was closed.   
  
Alfred did not see Bruce sitting in the stairs and putting his head between his knees.   
Shaking with pain. He hated himself.   
  
He had become a junkie.   
  
Bruce wanted to cry. The little kid in him wanted to cry his guts out and feel better.   
So much pain. How much time before the need for the drug was unstoppable?   
But Batman does not cry. He got up and descended to the cave.   
  
  
DAY 3   
  
The cave is silent. So silent. Darkness must help me. I must overcome this.   
Father don´t let me fall again. This place must heal me.   
  
Don´t think about the pain. Ignore it. Dammit. I don´t feel good.   
  
Weeks ago I was laughing my guts out... Now look at me...   
  
Sit and think. Must concentrate like Hatori taught me years ago.   
  
I must do this. I´ll go after those who did this to me.   
  
But first I must clean my body. Clean my mind.   
  
  
DAY 5   
  
Alfred was upstairs. He cleaned all the windows and organized the laundry.   
He was thinking about Bruce. In the past months Batman changed so much.   
He used to read, he used to be a man who used his mind as well as his body.   
  
When he started with the drug, Bruce did not read anymore.   
His vocabulary was reduced in an amazing way. He was more violent, vicious.   
Something inside of Bruce was wrong.   
But Alfred was sure that Bruce could beat this problem.   
  
Bruce was Batman. Batman is strong. Batman always wins.   
  
Alfred did not hear the chilling shriek coming from the deep of the cave.   
  
  
DAY 6   
  
I feel so lonely. I´ve always been alone. But never this alone.   
Ignore the pain. I must ignore the pain. I can´t...   
  
I can´t... I should relax. Use mind technics to block the pain.   
  
What have they done to me? I allowed them to do this to me.   
  
I let them. All because I let little Sissy die.   
I let a little girl die because I wasn´t strong enough to save her.   
  
The pain in my body is something I deserve.   
  
I just wish I could make the pain in my soul dissappear.   
  
There´s no cure for that.   
  
Must rest. But I can´t.   
  
Batman. Batman. Batman.   
  
And I´m weak, unsure, insane.   
  
DAY 9   
  
The man in the cave is walking around like a caged lion. He grabs his head and screams.   
He feels the fire in his guts and he wants to die. His heart is full of rage.   
  
Then he lets himself fall on his knees. He moans and feels the desesperation.   
  
"I let them kill me" he says to himself.   
  
And he wants to die. Right now he wishes he were dead.   
  
But his wish for revenge does not let him die.   
  
He stands again and keeps walking.   
  
He does not realize that his saliva is coming out of his mouth.   
He does not realize his hands are shaking.   
He does not realize he is going to pass out.   
  
DAY 10   
  
Alfred does not sleep very much. He´s really worried.   
Using the comunicator Alfred listens to the sounds from the cave.   
Silence.   
But sometimes there´s the sound of movement.   
Breathing.   
Grunts.   
Sometimes what sounded like a sob.   
  
Alfred wants speak words of comfort, of encouragement.   
He wants to tell his master that he is there for him.   
  
But he does not. The good butler goes and does his housework.   
  
But minutes later he is back in his place. Listening.   
  
And he does not say a word.   
  
Only ten days.   
  
Only ten.   
  
DAY 14   
  
The cave is dark and cold. But his eyes can see in the darkness now.   
He is in his element. But Bruce´s weak, and his costume is torn.   
His head hurts. He feels like a hundred horses are running over his brain.   
He tries to sleep and recover.   
Slowly, almost afraid, he closes his eyes.   
  
Everytime his eyes close he sees death. The death of his parents.   
  
But this time...   
  
This time is different. Now he sees the little girl in the sewer.   
The terrified, little girl. Alone in the water. Alone in the dark.   
  
Just like him. Alone.   
  
Sissy. Sissy Porter.   
  
Batman feels the cold water in his body, the sickening sound of rats.   
The smell from the sewer is disgusting.   
  
"Mister?"   
  
He hears her voice, sweet, young and scared. He hears the rocks falling.   
He must save her or she´ll drown.   
Damn, she´s trapped, but he can save her.   
  
Batman must save her   
  
"Mister?"   
  
He tries to move the rocks. He does everything possible.   
His muscles twist and his back is on fire.   
  
No good, he must try another grip. The rocks are...   
  
"Mister?"   
  
Too..   
  
"Mister...?"   
  
Damn...   
  
"Mist..."   
  
Heavy...   
  
And he fails.   
  
Sissy has drowned.   
  
The man in the cave wakes up sweating. He looks around in panic.   
He is in the darkness. He realizes it has all been a bad dream.   
  
He has failed and that is not a dream. Sissy is dead.   
He couldn´t save her.   
He was not strong enough to rescue her.   
  
Bruce leans on his back and screams again trying to block the pain that shreds his soul.   
In the darkness the bats scream too, answering to Bruce´s grief.   
A sound so chilling that the walls of the cave tremble.   
  
And Bruce, for a moment, feels better.   
  
DAY 17   
  
His hands hurt. Bruce is hitting the rocky walls of the cave.   
His saliva is coming out of his mouth and there scars of his own teeth on his lips.   
  
Batman. Batman. Batman.   
  
He keeps hitting the walls. He does not realize the are tears coming from his eyes.   
  
"...sheisdeadsheisdeadsheisdeadsheisedeadsheisdeadsheisdead..."   
  
But there´s another idea in his mind. Another frightening idea.   
  
Bruce is sure this time he has lost it forever.   
  
The blood in his hands makes the pain worse.   
But the pain in his body makes him forget the pain deep in his soul.   
  
He keeps hitting the walls.   
  
It helps.   
  
DAY 20   
  
Alfred is in his place. Standing. Listening. The butler feels his master´s (his son´s)   
pain everytime he listens to him move, breath, sleep.   
  
But still, Alfred does not say a word.   
  
  
DAY 22   
  
The cave is silent. And Bruce is concentrating, trying to regain control.   
  
This day he feels better. But he is angry. This is the first time he understands   
how weak he was when he fell under Porter´s scheme.   
  
He is angry. And the need for revenge is slowly getting stronger in him.   
  
And revenge will keep him alive.   
  
DAY 25   
  
Another jolt of pain in his stomach. Bruce knew his body was reacting to abstinence.   
He had became a monster in that cave. He was ashamed and humillated.   
Only a few days more. And He would be ready to get out. Then he should recover.   
  
An then Batman would return.   
  
"It´s been more than three weeks..." says Alfred on the speaker.   
  
"I said a month."   
  
Bruce´s voice is hoarse and full of anguish.   
  
"What he must be suffering..." says the butler as he walks away from the speaker.   
  
And Alfred suffers too. Like a father waiting for his son to heal from a terrible disease.   
  
And, in silence, Alfred Pennyworth, cries.   
  
  
DAY 30   
  
The voice in the speaker tempts him.   
  
"Last month this would have been the final day. Why don´t you come..."   
  
"No! Like I said... tomorrow."   
  
Alfred takes a deep breath and gets away from the speaker.   
  
"And then what? I wonder." He says to himself.   
  
  
DAY 31   
  
Slowly I go into the light upstairs. I´m weak but I´m cured.   
I was dead but now I live. Darkness has made me whole again.   
  
My muscles are fine. They are not strong but they´re clean.   
  
I will go up and I´ll feel free. I´ve been through hell itself.   
  
But I´m alive. I hurt but that means I´m alive.   
  
And I´m sane.   
  
They made me a monster and they will pay for that.   
  
Alfred´s voice upstairs: "Master Bruce... Batman!"   
  
My legs move with a mind of their own.   
When I come out Alfred almost panics when he sees me.   
I don´t have a mirror but I can see myself in his eyes.   
It´s not a pretty sight.   
  
"Let me help..."   
  
"No. No. I´m all right"   
  
"Are you really?"   
  
"Yes. I am. Thanks."   
  
And now, all I want to do is take a shower and go outside.   
And feel the sun in my skin.   
  
SIX MONTHS LATER   
  
It´s been a while since Bruce wore the mantle of the bat.   
  
"...Beginning to fill out the costume again, Master Bruce." says Alfred.   
  
"Yes. Convalescence is over" answers Bruce as he puts on the suit.   
"But Gotham criminals... They don´t have to worry just yet."   
  
Alfred looks at his master with a strange feeling in his stomach.   
  
"I´m leaving the city. I´m going after Porter and Slaycroft."   
  
"May I ask why? Surely they no longer pose a threat..."   
  
Bruce puts on his cape. And his face still looks sad.   
His soul is full of rage and shame. But this time he is cured.   
  
"But they do. They will as long as they´re free.   
Because I can´t forget what happenned to me while I was at the cave...   
What I became... And I won´t be able to rest until I know they can´t   
do that to me again."   
  
When he puts the mask all his fear seems to dissappear. He is back.   
Batman has returned.   
  
Alfred, behind him, smiles.   
Those men, they almost broke him, they almost destroyed him.   
  
Almost.   
  
They will wish they had.   
  
Batman. Batman. Batman.   
  
And the voice is strong, sure, and sane.   
  
"Let´s got to work."   
  
  
END.


End file.
